Wednesday, August 08, 2007

No One Is Writing Down Your Number

Can we maybe have some guidelines for billboards? Like phone numbers. How often do people write down the numbers they see on billboards? My guess is not very often, even if that number is easy to remember, like this one for what appears to be a crisis pregnancy center hotline. We're trying to drive. Ditch the phone numbers. Websites are far easier to remember. And while you’re squeezing your web address on that billboard, I can save you some space: drop the "www." We all figured out about 10 years ago that if you have .com, .org, .biz or dot anything at the end, that means we can find it online.

13 Comments:

It's a low bar, but yes - you've leaped over it. I have to disagree with the phone thing, though. Lots of economically disadvantaged types don't have ready computer access. A piece of the problem here is: That woman is taking up valuable real estate with her useless face. Not that she isn't adorable, but she serves no point on this billboard. I'd rather see a positive pregnancy test. Or a sonogram. Or or or or. Something thad ads to the message, not just adding for the sake of adding. Otherwise, put the fucking headline up there big.Put the phone numbe rup there big. Put the URL up there (sans www) big and spend your photography $ on the people staffing the phones.

Without the image of the woman I think it would be a little too impersonal. A woman in a situation like the one described might want a picture of another female to identify with or make a connection. But w/o the image, it'd be a little puzzling ... my first thoughts at a text-only billboard like that would be "Black market babies?!" or pro-life propagandists ... and then I'd be REALLY scared.

actually, the phone number alone is probably the better idea. online access is an issue. but even the lowest income folks seem to carry a cell phone 24/7, which negates the need to write down a phone number.

Your issue with writing down the number is a non-issue because you don't need to write it down-all you need to do is remember three digits--395-because the word help would stay in your brain, and you could remember 800 because it is the original prefix/area code for toll-free numbers. Your argument for a website does not wash because a newly-pregnant, terrified sixteen-year-old needs to talk to a human being, preferrably one who is female, and ideally one who has had a child.

Writing down the number is not necessary here because all one has to remember is three digits--395--because "help" will stay in your brain because it's a word and because 800 is the original prefix/area code for toll-free numbers. Your argument for a website does not wash because a newly-pregnant, terrified sixteen-year-old needs to talk to a human being, preferrably one who is female and ideally one who has had a child.

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